An employee at a Wisconsin software company opens fire at the office, wounding three coworkers and forcing others to hide under desks.
A gunman wounds four people at a Pennsylvania municipal building about an hour and half later, before he’s shot dead by police.
The next morning a disgruntled employee fatally shoots three people and leaves three others wounded at a Rite Aid distribution center in Maryland.
In a span of 24 hours this week three seemingly safe places of business in America turned into danger zones.
“Three workplace active shooting attacks in just the last 24 hours should spark outrage in every American,” former US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords said in a statement this week
Giffords was shot in the head in January 2011 at a “Congress on Your Corner” event at a grocery store in Tucson, Arizona. She was one of 13 people wounded by Jared Lee Loughner, whose primary target was the former congresswoman. Six others were killed.
“No matter where you work, learn, play, or live – you have a right to feel safe, and I’m horrified that that’s no longer the reality in America,” Giffords said. “If gun violence feels like it’s become an everyday occurrence, that’s because it is.”
These were the three instances this week where gunfire disrupted usually ordinary places of business:
Gunshots ring out at software firm
Some WTS Paradigm workers took cover under their desks, police said. Others barricaded themselves and many just ran away from the sounds of gunfire.
An employee of the software firm in the city of Middleton opened fire in his workplace about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Middleton Police Chief Charles Foulke said. He had worked there since April 2017
The unidentified gunman, in his 40s, was critically injured during an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement officers, police said.
He died later at a hospital.